WARRINGTON is the sixth “worst” place in the North West for homelessness per head of population.
That’s according to a new report from Shelter, the housing charity, members of the borough council’s protecting the most vulnerable policy committee have been told.
While the number of homeless people seeking help from the borough council has only increased slightly – 1,648 this year compared with 1,621 last – the Homelessness Reduction Act became operational in April, with new statutory duties which have resulted in a doubling of the time the council has to work with individuals and families to prevent homelessness.
This has resulted in an increase in the use of bed and breakfast accommodation – 1–790 nights from April to September this year compared with 280 in the same period last year.
On rough sleeping, Warrington has bucked the national trend – 15 per cent increase in 2017 – by showing a decrease of 20 per cent.
But there has been a significant increase this year, although the exact figure has yet to be ratified.
The five places ranked as “worse” than Warringtonin the North West were all Greater Manchester authorities.
Nationally, Warrington ranked 154th for homelessness, above St Helens, 204th and Liverpool 235th.
Liverpool and the other Cheshire and Merseyside authorities have less than half the homelessness per population than Warrington.
An estimated one in 980 people in Warrington are homeless, and that does not include those that the council and partners are working with to prevent further homelessness; nor does it include “hidden homeless” such as sofa surfers.
The figures were based on homeless people in June and the last official rough sleeper count in November last year.
Warrington “sixth worst” in region for homelessness
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